Just when things were looking like they couldn't get any worse, the Hyannis Harbor Hawks put it all together with a big 10-1 win over the Wareham Gatemen Sunday and field manager Chad Gassman is hoping that win will get the team moving in the right direction.

George Kostinas

Just when things were looking like they couldn’t get any worse, the Hyannis Harbor Hawks put it all together with a big 10-1 win over the Wareham Gatemen Sunday.

And Hyannis field manager Chad Gassman is hoping that win will get the team moving in the right direction.

After a good start in which the Harbor Hawks were battling it out for first place in the West Division, they went into a slump, losing eight straight and going 1-10 before Sunday’s win.

“We’re not playing good,” was the direct answer from Gassman, but he has been around the Cape Cod Baseball League long enough now to know that anything can happen.

“The good thing is we went 10-6 and stockpiled some points in the bank to get into the playoffs,” he said.

Gassman said every team goes through a rough patch but that rough patch usually means going 3-7, not 1-10. “Ours is just a little worse than normal,” he said.

The big factor in the Harbor Hawks’ losing streak was the pitching; they are ranked last in the league.

“We [starting pitchers] were not going long enough. I think there were at least eight times we did not get past the third inning,” said Gassman. “After the first three innings and the score is 5-0, you’re not going to win many games.”

And there was the loss of several good pitchers.

Jordan Minch (Purdue) left the team because he signed with the Chicago Cubs.

Matt Margaritonda (Marshall) was also pitching well in relief, but he pitched too many innings and was sent home.

Sarkis Ohanian (Duke), who made the CCBL All Star team last year, was off to a good start, but had to leave because of summer school.

And Hyannis was expecting Brandon Waddell, who went 15-3 at the University of Virginia this spring, but for various reasons he did not come.

So Gassman has been working to find some new pitchers and to get the right rotation with the pitchers he has.

“I feel like we got the pitching now to where we can go out and have a chance,” said Gassman.

On Sunday, Tate Scioneaux (Southeastern Louisiana) gave the Harbor Hawks that chance.

“He had a couple of rough starts, but we’re hoping to get started again,” said Gassman.

Against Wareham, Scioneaux pitched six innings, giving up just four hits and one run to improve his record to a team leading 4-2.

And Matt Denny (St. Louis), who has recently pitched well in relief, shut down the Gatemen for the last three innings and picked up his second save while improving his ERA to 0.84.

At the plate, the Harbor Hawks, who are also ranked last in team batting, banged out 10 hits and scored 10 runs.

“Batting average can be a misleading stat,” said Gassman. “We’re leading the league in stolen bases (70) by something like 25. So our offense is going to be fine. We’ve got a lot of team speed. We get guys on base and we’re going to run. That’s what made us successful early in the season.”

Although batting averages, with the exception of Donnie Dewees Jr. (North Florida) who is batting .352 and has 12 RBI and 12 stolen bases, are down, Gassman said he thinks the hitting is good.

“Carl Wise [College of Charleston] is getting good swings on the ball, so is [Austin] Slater [Stanford] and [Daniel] Kihle [Wichita State], and so is Bobby Melley,” said Gassman. “I don’t know what they’re batting, but as a coach, I think they’re swinging the bats well. They’re hitting the ball hard at people.”

Gassman said the players know they’re good, so they have the confidence to get past a rough string of games.

“These kids have had great success, so a little failure is not going to affect them. They know how to win. We just have to get through this streak,” he said.

“We need a hot finish. If we do that, it’ll keep us in third place. Right now, we’re only one or two games behind Cotuit and a few more behind Falmouth. If we can turn it around just a little bit, we can be right there in second place.”